July 9th, 2011 : Warning Signs You May Be Dealing With A Rogue SEO Company

Warning Signs You May Be Dealing With A Rogue SEO Company

When you hire an SEO professional to help you, it's important to know they're competent. A lack of knowledge may mean you paying a lot of money for very little result. However, there is another type of unscrupulous individual who can actually do damage to your business. While they know what they're doing, they choose to do things that are deceptive and misleading. Doing business with them can hurt you in the long run. In this article, you'll learn more about the warning signs to look out for.

Why Do They Do It?

First, it's important to know why these rogue SEO companies use questionable tactics and methods. After all, it seems logical that doing business on an honest foundation would be better for them. So why do they even bother to use underhanded methods?

One reason is the lure of fast cash. Some SEO companies know that their customers are not informed about their methods. Typically, uneducated customers purchase by the lowest price and often seek short-term results. By using questionable tactics that bring short-term results, they get more customers coming to them much faster. It doesn't matter that they're charging a low price because they work to lure in more people than anyone else does.

This means some SEO professionals can get away with using unscrupulous methods that bring short-term results but do long-term damage. In the industry, these tactics are known as "Blackhat SEO." Not quite as bad as a hacker, yet not legitimate either, a "blackhatter" uses methods that are against the policies of Google and other large internet companies. Whereas a hacker would get you in trouble with the law, a blackhat SEO will simply get you banned, de-indexed, or shut down.

The results may not catch up to the blackhat SEO because their customers will praise them initially. By the time their reputation is built, they have a large base of new business. Plus, many of them can claim deniability once the terms of their service are finished. It's very difficult for a business owner to later come back and prove a case against them. Even still, most business owners may not know why they got banned. In response, they will simply hire another SEO to pick up the pieces. Warning Signs It's best to see the warning signs and avoid SEO companies who use unscrupulous tactics. Below, you will find a list of red flags to watch for. These warning signs will help you know if you are dealing with a company using questionable methods:

• The use of cheap "shadow" websites ending in .info or .cc or .biz
• Doorway Pages - Pages designed for keywords that forward visitors to you
• Links to themselves or other clients on your website
• Gives you paid advertising positions instead of legitimate search engine placement
• Guarantees a #1 position on long keyword phrases
• Multiple or different aliases, company names, or vendor names
• Sends visitors from falsified toolbars, spyware, or malware
• Has a website removed from or not listed in Google

When hiring an SEO company, always make sure you understand which methods they use. It's to your benefit to learn a bit about SEO so that you can know exactly what they're doing. This way you can be a more educated consumer. If there is anything shady or unclear about their practices, skip them and move on to someone else.

Tags: Local Internet Marketing, Local Internet Advertising

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